Meet Me At Rock Bottom
by Storychan
Summary: Young Seto isn't trying to make friends when he moves into Domino Orphanage. He's mostly concerned about keeping his younger brother safe. But, on his first day in his new "home", he meets a boy named Jounouchi, who says he also has a sibling to protect. Will Seto still leave the orphanage with Gozaburo, if it means leaving behind the only friend he's ever had?
1. Chapter 1

Seto clutched at his younger brother's shaking hand as they looked up uncertainly at the front doors of the orphanage that was to be their new home.

"Oniisama, I'm scared," Mokuba confessed in a whisper.

"Don't be scared, Mokuba-kun," Seto comforted him, putting on a brave face. In truth, both boys had been nothing but scared for the past several months. First had come the terror when their uncle picked them up from school to tell them that Mama and Papa had been in a car accident. Then, the horror of seeing Mama and Papa, in pine boxes, being lowered into the earth. And most recently, the shock when Uncle told them that now that the money he'd inherited from Mama and Papa had run out, they would not be staying with him and Auntie anymore.

 _How could they just abandon us to this place?!_ Seto thought, betrayed. How would they survive here? What if the people who ran the orphanage were mean to them? What if the other orphans bullied them?

"No matter what," Seto vowed, "I'll protect you, ok?"

"Ok," Mokuba nodded, looking up at his brother with such trusting eyes. Seto knew he had to stay strong for him. Taking a deep breath, he led Mokuba through the doors.

"Hello, Seto-san, Mokuba-san," greeted a matronly-looking woman. "We've been expecting you. Did you have a safe ride here?"

"Yes, Uncle brought us here with no problems," Seto mumbled. _And then he just drove away. Like leaving a puppy at a farm._

"That's good," the woman smiled. "My name is Yamada Chouko, ok? You can call me Yamada-san. Or Yamada-basan, if you'd like."

"Basan means aunt," Seto snapped. "You're not my aunt." _I don't like my real aunt, anyway. She let Uncle dump us here like garbage._

"….Ok," Yamada replied, her smile fading. "Listen, boys. My husband and I run things here at Domino Orphanage. We'd like to make you feel as welcome here as we can, so if there's anything you need, just ask us one of us, alright?"

"I don't need anything from you," Seto glared.

"I'm going to let my husband show you to your rooms," Yamada sighed. "Hiro! Come here, please!"

A skinny, bespectacled man stepped out of the kitchen, which was to the left of the foyer where Yamada and the boys stood.

"Hello!" the man greeted. "My name is Yamada Hiro. I was just getting started on dinner. All the children meet at the mess hall at 6 o'clock every night, so be sure to watch the clock to make sure you're not late!"

"We'll remember," Mokuba said softly. They were his first words since they'd entered the building. Until now, he'd been hiding behind Seto shyly.

"I'll show you boys where you'll be living from now on, alright?" Hiro smiled. "Follow me."

He walked up a winding, rickety staircase, and the boys followed until he stopped at a small door on the left.

"We house the boys under 10 on the second floor," Hiro explained. "So, Mokuba-san, you will be here. Your roommate will be Haru-kun."

"What?" Mokuba gasped, looking like he might cry. "No, I want to room with Seto-oniisama!"

"Sorry, that's not our policy," Hiro insisted. "Boys above the age of ten live on the third floor. Seto-san is twelve, so he can't stay on this floor with you."

"No fair!" Mokuba whined. "Oniisama, tell him I won't live on this floor!"

"You can't separate us!" Seto agreed.

"Listen, boys," Hiro frowned, taking on a disciplinary tone. "You will still be able to see each other at meal times, and when you play outside. But, we have these rules about housing for a reason, and throwing a tantrum isn't going to change them."

"Waaaah, Oniisama!" Mokuba began to cry. "I don't want you to leave me!"

"I won't go to the third floor, Hiro," Seto said stubbornly. "You can't make me."

"That is _Hiro-san_ to you," the man said with an offended look. "Or, actually, most of the children call me Yamada-ojisan…..but, that's not the point! The point is, Yamada-basan and I are in charge here, and as long as you live under this roof, you are going to have to listen to us."

"Or what?" Seto growled, eyes narrowed. "You'll throw us out? Like my real ojisan did?"

Hiro seemed taken aback by this. "Your uncle made the decision that Domino Orphanage was the place where you and your brother would receive the best care," he explained. "It is not my place to question his decision. But, you are here now, Seto-san, and you need to get used to it. If you continue to act defiant, I will have to give you a consequence."

"What kind of consequence?" Seto asked, suddenly nervous. Was Hiro going to spank him, the way Uncle had?

"I may restrict you from going outside during playtime," Hiro explained. "That would give you less time to spend with your brother. That's not what you want, is it?"

"…No," Seto confessed, defeated. He turned to Mokuba, who was wiping tears on his shirt sleeve.

"Listen, Mokuba-kun," he said. "I have to go with Hiro-san now, but I'll be right upstairs if you need me, ok?"

"No, Seto-oniisama, don't go," Mokuba sniffled.

"I don't _want_ to go," Seto said sadly. He glared pointedly at Hiro. "He's _making_ me go."

"You _will_ comply with the rules of the house, Seto-san," Hiro glared.

"I'll see you at dinner," Seto told his brother comfortingly, ignoring the frustrated housemaster. With great reluctance, he hugged Mokuba a temporary goodbye and followed Hiro up another flight of stairs.

"Your room is right here at the end of the hall," Hiro showed him. "Your roommate will be Jounouchi-kun. He's the same age as you. Why don't you go introduce yourself to him?"

"…..If it will make you leave me alone, _Hiro_ ," Seto grumbled, and entered his new bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

Inside the room, he found two, small beds with identical white sheets. Sitting on the bed to the left was a blonde boy in a blue shirt.

"Hi!" the boy greeted with a friendly smile. "I'm Jounouchi Katsuya! What's your name?"

"I'm Seto," Seto introduced. "Seto Ryuta."

"It's nice to meet you, Ryuta-san!" Jounouchi replied.

"You can call me Seto, if you want," Seto shrugged, fwumping down onto the bed on the right. "Since I'm not the only 'Ryuta-san' who lives here."

"Oh, you have a sibling?" Jounouchi guessed. "Is it a sister, or a brother?"

"…..Brother," Seto replied. Ugh. Of course he got saddled with a chatty roommate, when he just wanted to be left alone.

"That's cool," Jounouchi grinned. "I have a sister, myself. Her name is Shizuka-chan. She and I just moved in here a few days ago."

"Did your parents just die?" Seto asked bluntly. His own loss had been months ago. He would have wound up in this place far sooner if Uncle hadn't taken him in. Having to move to the orphanage mere days after the funeral would have been awful. So, to an extent, he supposed he was lucky that Uncle had wanted to drain all their money first.

"They're…not dead," Jounouchi muttered, his smile fading. He looked away from Seto and started fiddling with a toy he kept at the foot of his bed.

"You're not an orphan?" Seto blinked, confused. "What are you doing at an orphanage, then?"

"My daddy, he…..he hurt Shizuka-chan and I," Jounouchi confessed. "So, some lady from Child Protective…whatever it's called decided it was better for us to live here."

"….Oh," Seto said after a moment. Mama and Papa had always been so good to him and Mokuba. He couldn't imagine a parent hurting their own child. And yet…

"My uncle was mean to my brother and I, too," Seto admitted. "He could have raised us, but he made us come here."

"So we both got families that didn't keep us," Jounouchi said, looking up from his toy into Seto's eyes.

"I still have family," Seto considered. "I have Mokuba-kun…..that's my brother…..and I'm not letting him go."

"I won't let go of Shizuka-chan, either," Jounouchi said seriously. "She….she really needs me."

"Mokuba-kun needs me, too," Seto nodded.

"Yeah, but, Shizuka-chan, she misses our mommy," Jounouchi sighed. "She doesn't understand why Mama let the CPS lady take us."

"Did your mommy want you to go?" Seto asked. "Like my aunt and uncle wanted me gone?"

"No," Jounouchi clarified. "She wanted to keep us, but she wouldn't leave Papa, so the mean judge man said we couldn't stay with her."

 _The mean judge man._ So, Jounouchi had had to go to court. Seto remembered court. All the lawyers, representing all his different family members as they squabbled over the contents of Mama and Papa's will. The judge had said Uncle could only have Papa's money if he took care of Seto and Mokuba. That was the only reason Uncle had agreed to take them in. _Bastard._ Grownups only wanted to help you if there was something in it for them.

"Shizuka-chan is on the fourth floor," Jounouchi continued. "That's where the under-10 girls live."

"Mokuba-kun is with the under-10 boys downstairs," Seto scowled. "I want to see him, but stupid Hiro won't let me."

"Let's sneak down there tonight," Jounouchi suggested with a mischievous look. "I'll get Shizuka-chan, too, and the four of us can make a pillow fort and have a sleepover. The Yamadas won't catch us if we're quiet."

"You'd help me do that?" Seto gasped.

"Yeah!" Jounouchi said certainly. "I want to help you out, because we're friends, Seto-san!"

"…..We are?" Seto asked. He'd never had many friends at school. He always fought with the boys in his class who picked on Mokuba at recess.

"Can we be?" Jounouchi smiled, offering Seto a handshake.

"…Ok," Seto decided, shaking the boisterous blonde's hand. "Let's be friends, Katsuya-san."


	2. Chapter 2

"It's almost 6 o'clock," Jounouchi noted, looking down at his watch. "We should head downstairs for dinner, Seto-san."

"Right," Seto nodded. "Mokuba-kun is waiting for me."

"I can't wait to meet him," Jounouchi said excitedly. "And I want to introduce you to Shizuka-chan, too."

Together, the two boys walked to the mess hall. It was a large room, with rows of picnic tables set with paper plates and plastic cutlery. Several children were already seated at the tables, even though it was still early.

"Food here is first come, first serve," Jounouchi explained. "And the Yamadas tend to run out fast."

"Shouldn't they make sure they have enough food for everyone?" Seto wondered.

"Oh, they try," Jounouchi shrugged. "But, there's so many of us, and they don't got a lot of money."

"I need to make sure Mokuba gets enough to eat," Seto frowned.

"If they wind up only having scraps by the time you two get to the front of the line," Jounouchi offered, "I'll share my ration with you."

"Really?" Seto gasped. "You'd do that?"

"That's what friends are for, right?" Jounouchi grinned.

"I don't know," Seto said quietly. "I've never had a friend before."

Jounouchi looked at Seto with surprise, but then he got distracted when a small, brown-haired girl attacked him with a tackle hug.

"Oniichan!" the girl cried excitedly.

"Shizuka-chan!" Jounouchi replied warmly. "How are you doing? Are the other girls being nice to you?"

"Yeah," Shizuka said through crooked baby teeth. "Mitsu-chan gave me a friendship bracelet, and Yoko-chan said she would show me her dolls later!"

"That's great," Jounouchi smiled, clearly relieved that his sister seemed to be coping well (at least today). "Listen, Shizu, I want you to meet my new friend, Seto-san."

"Hi, Seto-san!" the little girl waved.

"Nice to meet you, Shizuka-san," Seto said back politely. "Do you know where the under-10 boys are right now?"

"Um, they should be coming down the stairs in just a second," Shizuka informed him.

Suddenly, Seto heard screams from the top of the staircase. The three children immediately ran to see what was going on.

Seto was horrified to see a heavyset boy in a red shirt pulling on Mokuba's long hair.

"Let me go, Haru!" Mokuba cried in obvious pain.

"Not until you gimme that card, Newbie!" the boy taunted.

"You can't have it!" Mokuba insisted, trying desperately to claw his way out of Haru's grasp. "It belongs to my oniisama!"

Seto's eyes widened with horror, and, before he could even think, he was rushing up the stairs and ripping the bully away from his brother.

"Leave him _alone_!" Seto growled, punching Haru hard enough to knock him to the ground.

"Make me!" Haru cried, standing up and aiming a kick at Seto's shin. The hit landed, and Seto cried out in pain.

"Hey!" Jounouchi shouted, and Seto realized he had ascended the staircase, as well. "That's my friend you're messin' with, ya nimrod!" He kicked Haru in the back, making him stumble to his knees. Then, he kicked him again.

"What is going on up there?!" cried a feminine voice, and Seto saw the Yamada woman from earlier glaring up at them from the bottom step. "Jounouchi Katsuya, you better not be fighting again!"

"Katsuya-san and the new kid _both_ hit me, Yamada-basan!" Haru whined. "Two against one – it was totally not fair!"

"How dare you gang up on poor Haru-kun!" Yamada scolded. "I won't tolerate that sort of behavior in this house!"

"Oniichan didn't start the fight!" Shizuka defended her brother. "Haru-san was being a bully!"

"That doesn't matter," Yamada insisted. "If another child hurts you, you don't hurt them back. You walk away and find an adult. Either my husband, or myself. "

She turned to face Seto, who was busy checking Mokuba for injuries. "I'm especially disappointed with you, Seto-san! You are _not_ off to a good start," the matron chided. "I want you to apologize to Haru-kun right now."

"I'm not doing that," Seto glared.

"You will, or you will go to bed without supper, young man," Yamada insisted.

"Haru's lying, Yamada-basan!" Jounouchi interrupted. "Seto-san didn't hit him. It was just me."

Seto looked at Jounouchi with wide eyes. _Why was Katsuya-san lying for him?_ He was going to refute his new buddy's story immediately, but he saw Jounouchi subtly shake his head.

 _Don't tell._

Shizuka and Mokuba didn't argue with Jounouchi's version of events, either. It was Haru's word against his.

"Very well," Yamada decided. "Since you're the only one I saw hurt Haru-kun with my own two eyes, you're the only one who has to apologize to him, Katsuya-kun."

"Nuh-uh," Jounouchi said stubbornly.

"Then, you will go to bed without supper," Yamada judged. "Return to your room immediately."

With a shrug, Jounouchi began trudging back up the stairs. Seto followed him with his eyes, unable to believe what had just occurred.

"I…I'm sorry your brother took the fall for me, Shizuka-san," Seto apologized as soon as Yamada was out of earshot.

"It's ok," said Shizuka. "My brother hates bullies. He would've fought Haru-san even if he weren't friends with you, Seto-san."

"Really?" Seto asked.

"Yeah," Shizuka nodded. "He used to protect me from mean kids on the playground all the time."

"Sounds just like my Oniisama," Mokuba smiled weakly.

"Mokuba-kun, are you ok?" Seto asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mokuba assured him. "It just hurt when he grabbed my hair."

"Here, take this," Shizuka offered, pulling a ponytail holder out of her pocket. "If you tie your hair back, it'll be less easy for them to grab."

"Thanks," Mokuba said, gratefully accepting the gift. "I'm Mokuba, by the way."

"Hi, Mokuba-san," Shizuka smiled. "I'm Shizuka."

"Hi, Shizuka-san."

"Hey, Seto-san," Shizuka said, turning her attention to the elder Ryuta. "If I slip you a piece of bread, or an apple, or something, under the table at dinner, do you think you could put it in your pocket and sneak it to my brother when you go back to your room?"

"Sure," Seto agreed. He didn't want Jounouchi to go hungry because of him.

Seto and Mokuba wound up sitting next to Shizuka, and her roommate Yoko, in the mess hall. Within moments, Hiro appeared with an industrial-size tureen of soba noodles.

"Form an orderly line, children!" he commanded. Seto and Mokuba weren't used to the commotion just yet, so they wound up at the back of the line, but Shizuka and Yoko gave them some extra noodles from their bowls.

"Oh, yeah," Seto remembered as he slurped down the last of his serving, "Katsuya-san says he wants to have a secret sleepover tonight."

"Ooh, I'll cover for you, Shizu-chan, so you can go see your brother!" Yoko promised.

"I can come, too?" Mokuba asked.

"Of course," Seto said. "But, you have to be quiet when you sneak upstairs, or Hiro will hear you."

"I don't want to get in trouble," Mokuba said nervously.

"Don't worry," Shizuka smiled. "Oniichan and I have done it before without getting caught. You just gotta wait for the Yamadas to fall asleep before you leave your room!"

"Ok," Mokuba decided.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Sure enough, at around eleven o'clock at night that evening, Seto heard a knock at his door. He stealthily opened it, admitting Mokuba into the room.

"Hi, Oniisama! And hi, Katsuya-san!" Mokuba greeted. "Thank you for helping me and my brother earlier!"

"Anytime, squirt," Jounouchi smiled, biting into the apple (which, according to Yamada, counted as "dessert") which Seto had snuck him. "Hey, what was that jerk Haru trying to steal from you, anyway?"

"My Duel Monsters cards," Mokuba answered.

"You duel?" Jounouchi said excitedly.

"Mokuba-kun and I both do," Seto nodded. "Do you?"

"Yeah, wanna see my deck?" Jounouchi asked, pulling a card box out from under his bed.

"Sure!"

"I don't have a lot of strong monsters yet," Jounouchi admitted sheepishly. "But, that's because I don't have a lot of money to buy cards. Yamada-ojisan gives us an allowance every week, though, so I'm going to save up so I can go to the game shop and get some really cool ones."

"That's ok. Can I show you my deck, too?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

The boys were still comparing card collections when Shizuka came knocking at the door, wearing adorable pink pajamas.

Mokuba got up to let her in. "Hey, Shizuka-san, look at this cool card my brother has!" he said excitedly, handing her the monster card.

"Ok, just a sec," Shizuka said, pulling a small case out of her pocket. From the case, she removed a pair of eyeglasses, and put them on. "Ok, now I can read the card! Sorry, the words are really small!"

"You wear reading glasses?" Seto commented, surprised. He thought those were for old people.

"Uh-huh," Shizuka replied. "I didn't use to need them, but my eyesight's kind of going funny lately. Mommy says if it gets worse, I'll have to start wearing glasses all the time. I'll have to talk to her about it next time I see her."

"Shizuka-chan," Jounouchi frowned, "I told you, we're not _gonna_ see Mommy anymore."

Shizuka's eyebrows narrowed, and her lips formed a pout. "Mommy will come and take us home eventually," she insisted.

"No, she won't," Jounouchi argued. "That's what 'lost custody' means."

"The judge man said Mommy could do a peel," Shizuka countered.

"You mean an _appeal_ ," Jounouchi corrected. "She could try to appeal the case, but she's not gonna win."

"She will _so_ ," Shizuka pouted.

Seto frowned, and looked away. No mommy even had a _chance_ of coming to rescue him or Mokuba from this place. His mama and papa were dead, and his aunt and uncle could care less. He would be trapped here, with stupid bully Haru and the stupid Yamadas and their rules, forever.

Unless he thought of a plan…..

"Hey," Jounouchi said, interrupting Seto's thoughts. "Did you know the Toy Man is going to come next month?"

"Toy Man?" Mokuba repeated eagerly.

"Yeah, Yoko-chan told me that an old, rich guy comes to the orphanage sometimes, and brings toys for all the kids," Shizuka explained.

"I hear he only does it to look good in the papers, though," Jounouchi revealed. "I heard a rumor that his company did a really bad thing not long ago, and now he's doing stuff so people will stop saying he's bad."

"What's his name?" Seto asked curiously.

"I hear," said Jounouchi, "that his name is Gozaburo Kaiba."


End file.
